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Tuesday, Sept 11, 2007
OK, let me start by saying we're both OK.
Now, the details.....This whole trip was a nightmare from the start.
Delmar Kiser drove the truck and 2 cars up to Halifax for us, where
Nadine and I were meeting him to bring it across the ferry to
Newfoundland. Only hours into his trip, the trailer blew a tire, then
the truck wouldn't start. I left Charlotte and ran up the highway to get
him new batteries, and he was on his way. The next day, in Harrisburg,
PA, he had starting problems and found it was a bad starter, so he got
that replaced.
No issue all the way to Halifax. so we thought all was behind us. We met
him and drove it to Sydney, NS and stayed the night, meeting up with
some old and new Targa competitors for dinner.
Friday morning we got in the truck to drive to the ferry. About 1 mile
into the trip, the "service engine soon" light went on, and the truck
started to lose power. only 5 miles from the ferry, the truck died on
the side of the highway.
Doug Mepham, Tony Kloosterman, and Sebastian (forgot the last name,
sorry Sebastian) stopped and we determined that the truck was not going
to start. We called for a tow, and these guys took all of our stuff to
the ferry in their trucks and trailers.
We got towed to the local Ford dealership, with the hopes that it was a
minor problem and we could get on our way. We had an hour or so until we
had to be at the ferry, so we had a small amount of breathing room, but
not much.....
About 45 minutes later, it was determined that the fix was not easy or
quick. It was the injector control module that had to be replaced. So,
we decided to unload the cars and drive them onto the ferry, leaving the
truck and trailer in Nova Scotia. So, we unloaded the 914, and Harold
Seagles 911....which wouldn't start. We tried and tried, but it wouldn't
turn over. All the Ford mechanics came out, and nothing.... Finally,
after 30 minutes, they jumped a circuit and got it started. We race to
the ferry, only to see it leaving in the distance.....
So, here we are in Nova Scotia, all our stuff (luggage included) was on
the ferry to Newfoundland, and we weren't.
2 hours later there was another ferry to Newfoundland, but it was on the
opposite side of the island (Port au Basques), making it a 10 hour drive
from the ferry drop off, to St John's - our destination.
Keep in mind the time here: the Port au Basques ferry leaves at 5pm,
getting in at midnight. Then we have a 10 hour drive ahead of us in 2
track cars that are in no way comfortable to drive for long periods of
time. Well, we had no choice but to do it, and off we went.....
....so, here we are, driving across Newfoundland at 1am. Keep in mind,
NOTHING is open at that time of night, not to say there is even anything
on this side of the island. 3 hours into the drive, we realize we're
going to need gas soon, again, NOTHING is open. We find a station and
fill both car up completely - they were almost empty!!!
The rest of the trip to St. Johns was uneventful except for the moose I
kept seeing at about 3-5am.....VERY Big moose, much bigger than Jeff's
deer (inside joke here).
OK, so we make to the event, tired, worn out, but we're there. All goes
well, Harold's car still has starting issues, but our 914 "Huey" is
running great. Bill Dunster, our crew, and Richard Burpee of Mantis
Sport adjust the ride height on Huey, but that's it. Everything else is
great.
Sunday is Prologue day, a day to do a couple runs to get acquainted with
the car and the crew with each other. We do well, running fast and
smooth. Good day all around.
Monday is the first day of real competition. Rain is threatening, but
nothing really in the morning. We head out to our first 2 stages and ace
them easily. Huey is running great, Nadine is on the mark, and I am
feeling very comfortable again.
We stop in Placentia for breakfast, then make 2 runs to the lunch spot.
It's starting to rain a bit, but not bad. We ace both stages, even after
I skid into someone's driveway and stall the car. It wouldn't start for
a few seconds, but it turns out we made the stage anyway...
Now, comes the bad part.....
We head out from lunch back the way we came. It's
raining, and the road is very slick. I back down a notch or 2, and
we're doing great.
Right near the end of the run, there's a wood bridge. Nothing very
amazing, about 20 feet long or so over a stream. I come down the hill,
point the car straight on the bridge....and spin instantly.
Unfortunately, I was going fast enough to not be about to save it and
we head off the road.
For those of you that have spent years driving on the
track you know: you don't try to get jeck the car back on the road,
you drive straight, settle the car down, and get back on the road
under control.
However, this is not a race track. The road has a big dip down then up
into a field, which launches us airborne, we land on the nose, flip
over onto the tail, then land on the wheels again. Yes, you read that
correct, we flipped nose to tail. this happened so fast, we
didn't even realize what happened until we stopped, and saw the hood
buckled in front of us.
We both climbed out of the car stunned, shocked, and quite upset, but
not injured at all. As we sat there thinking of what just happened,
another car came across the bridge and spun off too, flipping
sideways. Then 2 more spun off into the woods.
Had a marshal before the bridge not waved people to slow down, there
would have been much more carnage. As it was, 5 cars went off there, 4
others were close, and most of the rest tip-toed across due to the
marshal's warning. Unfortunately, we had no such warning
In the end, our beloved little 914 Huey is totaled. Nadine and I are
devastated. We both feel we've lost a member of the family here since
we've put so much time and effort (not to mention money) into getting
this car exactly as we want it. Who's fault was it? Who knows. It was
a racing accident. Unfortunately, it happens. But this car was
special, and it will be missed....
I am now sitting in a hotel in Port au Basque (remember, 10 hours from
St Johns that we drove today) waiting on the ferry Wednesday morning
to bring the truck and trailer back, so we can drive it to St. Johns
(10 hours), pick up Huey and load up Harold's car on Saturday, to then
come back here (10 more hours) on Sunday to catch the ferry back to
Nova Scotia.
This is suppose to be fun right????
Say a prayer for Huey...he was a good car that served us well.
Tuesday, Sept 18, 2007
So, we're back now. This was probably the worst 10 day
stretch of our entire lives. 40 hours of driving back and forth across
Newfoundland in the rain, fog, cold, dark, etc., eating at gas
stations 4 days as we drove back and forth, staying in little b-f
nowhere places, standing out in the cold to help marshall a stage so
the other competitors could run....Oh, and totaling our wonderful
little car.
Bill Dunster from Autobahn Collision - our crew - managed to get the
car back running on the road again, if not just to get it across the
finish line at the end.
To top it all off, they have a "Spirit of Targa" award. there is no
defined criteria for this award, just the team or person that showed
true "spirit" or persevered through adversity. You'd think with all we
went through, we'd win that, right? Nope. Just to put the icing on the
cake for the week, we didn't even get that.
So ends our Targa adventure. I had such high hopes for this year. Oh
well, that's racing, right??
Here is how Huey looked when we got out of it:
Here's how it looked after Bill Dunster from Autobahn
Collision got done with
it:
That's Bill - third from the left with the red shirt.
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